Sunken Graves, Alan Lee [all ebook reader .txt] 📗

before first bell. He thought August looked strong and competent, a little like the guy who played Mad Max in a recent movie.

He said, “I didn’t know private detectives were a real thing.”

“We are few. Only five in Roanoke and we mostly hire out to lawyers.”

“What do you do?”

“Stuff people don’t want to do, or can’t. Stuff cops can’t do. Sometimes, as is the case with Peter Lynch, we don’t get good results.”

“What results did you want?” said Jennings.

“To provide irrefutable evidence of the truth.”

“What truth?”

“That Lynch is a criminal. And worse, a killer.”

August had said the exact words Jennings wanted to hear. “He is. I see it, it’s all there.”

“A lot of us see it. But can you prove it?”

“I’m working on that.”

The man drank some coffee and set the mug down. “I got advice for you. Don’t.”

“Don’t what?”

“Don’t work on it,” said August.

“Why the hell not?”

“You’ll get killed. From what I saw in California, he’ll string you up like a fish or burn you alive.”

“Jeez, August.”

Hook in her mouth.

“That’s how at least two of his alleged victims went out.”

“I’m not worried about that.”

“You’re an impressive looking guy, Jennings. The most impressive I’ll see all day. But you should be worried. Lynch is a murderer. You aren’t.”

“You know he’s a murderer?”

“I know. So did a couple homicide detectives in California. But we couldn’t scrape together enough evidence to make the district attorneys twitch. We’re professionals, paid to do this, and we struck out.”

“The man should be in jail,” said Jennings.

“Absolutely. Yet he’s not. What’s that tell you?”

“You didn’t look hard enough.”

“That’s not it. Trust me, I’m great at this.”

“Then why—”

“Because he’s great at this too. That’s the whole deal. He’s good at hurting people and not getting caught. Tell me what you know,” said August.

“He hits his kids.”

“Can you prove it?”

“Not yet. I know he beat his wives.”

“But you can’t prove it.”

“He’s corrupt. And I think he killed a podcaster recently,” said Jennings, his neck reddening.

“Maybe, maybe not, Jennings, but you can’t prove it. So unless you plan on cold blooded murder, you’re stuck.”

“If you came to piss me off, it worked.”

“Listen.” August released a sigh and he nodded at Jennings’ prosthetic. “You’re military, right?”

“I was.”

“Looks like you ran against some overwhelming firepower.”

“Sure.”

“It’s not fair, is it.”

Hell no it’s not fair.

“What’s that have to do with Lynch?” said Jennings.

“Because you’re in the same situation as when you lost your foot. You’re in a bad spot and outgunned. You keep going, you’ll get hurt again. That’s not fair but that’s the way it is. You ask me, he’s not worth your life.”

“Who says I’m outgunned?”

August finished his coffee. He got up and poured more. Jennings had forgotten his.

“I say you are. And I’m on your side. I see your special forces tattoo, but all those muscles and combat training don’t matter right now.”

“Against an overweight attorney they do.”

“It’s not just you versus him,” said August. “Here’s the story. A few years ago, Kabir hired me for two weeks with the same concerns you have. I gave him sixty hours, twice. Worked my ass off. But then he was out of money, so I gave him another week on the house. I liked the guy and business was slow. We still couldn’t prove much, especially if Kabir wanted to keep his new journalism job in Richmond. So he gave up. But I didn’t. I kept going. And I found out something that I decided not to tell Kabir.”

“Why not?”

“You met Kabir?” said August.

“I did.”

“Where?”

“A restaurant in Richmond.”

“Was he paranoid?”

Jennings nodded. “Very.”

“He made you drive to Richmond and call him for the name of the restaurant? Was he worried he’d be recorded? Worried someone would kill him?”

“Yep.”

“Kabir went all-in on the story. Drained his finances. Drove people nuts. Lost his job. Had to move. Years later he’s still paranoid. Lynch didn’t kill Kabir but he wrecked him. Make sense? I didn’t want to make it worse for the guy. You’re not careful, the same thing could happen to you.”

“Tell me what you found out.”

“You know who Buck Gibbs is? The chief of police?”

Jennings flashed back to the police station, the day his truck was vandalized.

“I know him,” said Jennings.

“That’s Peter Lynch’s daddy.”

Blood rushed loud in Jennings’ ears. “No chance!”

“It’s true. I confirmed it.”

“Gibbs is Peter Lynch’s father?”

“Step-father or something like that. It’s a legend that everyone’s forgotten about. I stumbled across it. Goes like this. The Lynch boys get orphaned when they were little. Peter and Francis. Kicked around the foster system a couple years. A new cop named Buck Gibbs, barely out of high school, finds them. The boys were one of those awful cases we see, the kids technically in foster care but realistically on their own, malnourished and beaten, living in a flea-infested trailer with no floor. Gibbs takes them home and raises them in the mountains. That’s the legend, and I had two old-timers swear it’s true.”

“How does no one know?”

“It’s unofficial. It’s nowhere on paper. They pretended it didn’t happen and so did the courts. I think it was a temporary arrangement that stuck. They don’t act like family, though, so everyone forgot. I’ve been inside Gibbs’ office. No pictures of them. Ask him if he’s got kids and he says no.”

Jennings’ mind returned to the photograph he’d been staring at last night. The pixels snapped into focus. Buck Gibbs wasn’t standing with the sheriff or the attorneys. Gibbs was standing with Francis’ wife.

Like he was family.

That’s what bothered him as he fell asleep.

“Who knows?” he said.

“You and me. Some old guys. The sheriff of Roanoke City, but she doesn’t care. Being family isn’t illegal.”

“How could Gibbs take children and nobody notice?”

“Foster care forty years ago, Jennings. It was an underfunded disaster. They didn’t have the internet and cell phones tracking parents. Even today, there are children in Appalachia the system doesn’t know about. The social workers were relieved a cop was involved and their case load got lighter. I think he forged school paperwork in Craig